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I have other cd's by Coldplay but I think this is their best yet from beginning to end.
Nice, nice work.I do wish they could lose Gwyneth Paltrow altogether, but hey, ya' can't have everything. I almost always listen to it all the way through. But the stuff on this CD is so good and diverse and outside their box it's really on my desert island list.Every time I hear it I hear something different. What a classic. And I just want to say "Brian Eno for President."This is so damned good it's painful. I'm a pretty big Coldplay fan but they're not Numero Uno for me. Amazingly lovely stuff to be found here.
With the band's fourth effort, "Viva La Vida," though, the band rolls up their sleeves, gets creative and inspired and with the help of legendary producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads) turn out one of the most interesting and unique pop/rock albums in its time at a point where perhaps nobody expected them to.Not merely sticking to one genre, "Viva La Vida" liberates Coldplay from the somewhat droning nature of the previous album, with previously uncharted waters being explored. On a similar note, the title track proudly proclaims "The old king is dead/long live the king," perhaps alluding to the band's renewed fire and maturity.
"Viva La Vida" is simply a wide-reaching and awe-inspiring affair that will satisfy even the most jaded music lover. Despite all of the experimentation and left-turns the band takes, at no point do they lose their identity or forget about the quality of their craft.
Elsewhere, the band experiments with some avant-garde compositions and well-placed tribal elements while still maintaining their appeal and churning out one memorable song after another. It's a joy to see fame hasn't spoiled the band or hindered their inspiration, and things can only go up from here.
While Coldplay's previous effort, X&Y, succeeded by cranking the dial up on the band's unique brand of brit-pop, it lacked the heart and soul of both Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head. Witness "Lost." which perfectly blends the stadium-rock appeal of the band's greatest hits with a hip-hop flavor, making it a comeback anthem of sorts.
Rest assured that this is still a Coldplay album, but of a different nature.On the bulk of the album, Chris Martin and company sound hungrier than ever before, like they have something to prove and in turn, have churned out a massive masterpiece that manages to up-the-ante and virtually outshine their previous efforts.
So that the next album will not only benefit from an interesting inspiration, nice coverwork or great costumes, but also from original music. It's a pity that the band doesn't experiment more in this area, since the instruments and structure of Viva la Vida is greatly improved and more original compared to X&Y. Some of the lyrics are just plain corny, such as 'you thought you might be a ghost, you didn't get to heaven but you made it close' or 'if you love me, won't you let me go'. They are just that dreamy and uplifting. This remains true for Viva la Vida.
I hope that the band experiments further for their next album, while keeping their warm essence in tact. Chris Martin's high pitched voice doesn't really help. Even though their new album is more structured and coherent than the previous ones, the uplifting spirit and positivism of the songs hasn't changed. When listening to the albums of Coldplay, I always get the feeling that they seem to aim for a profound and poetic meaning that the band never quite achieves. Not that there is anything wrong with this, I even consider it the band's strongest trait, but the songs could benefit from better lyric writing and more original themes.
However, it's hard not to smile when hearing 'strawberry swing', 'viva la vida' or 'lovers in Japan'.
At least I only paid $7.98 total for it (one of the Black Friday lightning deals) so I only feel ripped off by Coldplay and not by Coldplay and Amazon. All the tracks seem to mosey along and there is really nothing there to grab one's attention or make Coldplay stand out from all the other U2, radiohead, DMB, wannabes out there. Anytime you start an album with an instrumental track, you really need to deliver. If you are insanely talented, it might work; otherwise, it comes across as self-indulgent. I guess I need to approach any Brian Eno produced records with caution in the future.
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